Recording of pictures and sound



Jan.24, 1939.

J. MUSUMECI RECORDING OF PICTURES AND SOUND Original Filed April 4, 1930 INVENTOR. JOSEPH MUSUMECI WM A T TO RN E Y Hnmmum mmmmn Patented Jan. 24, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RECORDING OF PICTURES AND SOUND Joseph Musumeci, Newark, N. J., assignor to United Research Corporation, Long Island City, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware 1 Claim.

This application is a division of co-pending application S. N. 441,532 filed April 4, 1930 entitled System for the transmission of pictures and sound in which a transmission system for pictures and sound is disclosed and claimed. The

" present application discloses and claims the method of and means for recording pictures and sound particularly for use in the transmission system of the parent application.

In many types of television systems in which sound is transmitted with pictures, it is usually necessary to employ a transmission channel for the audio frequency range and a transmission channel for the picture frequency range, the 15 addition of the two requiring a considerable range of frequencies of which there are only too few at the present time. In the transmission system disclosed in the parent application, the sound currents corresponding to the picture currents are intermittently transmitted, but produce simultaneous reception of picture and sound. Continuity is obtained through the persistency of vision and the persistency of sound reception. The transmission system employs the principle of r photographically recording sound upon a film and transmitting the recorded sound in the same manner as the picture is transmitted. At the receiving station a photo-electric cell or other photo-sensitive device focused on a receiving screen where the sound images are received will reproduce the sound as the picture is viewed. The present application relates to the recording of pictures and sound particularly applicable to television but not limited thereto.

A film recording having the concomitant sound in a track opposite the picture frame to which it relates considerably simplifies its transmission by reducing the transmission apparatus required. A film recording made in accordance with this invention differs from the standard type of talking motion picture film since the latter has the picture and its concomitant sound displaced longitudinally of the film by about 14% inches. This displacement which has been neces- 45 sary to separate the picture projection aperture and sound reproducing aperture each requiring different film movements, does not readily lend itself to simple transmission apparatus and it is particularly desirable therefore to produce a combined picture and sound record having no displacement between the picture and its related sound.

An object of my invention is to record concomitant sound as a continuous track on a recording 55 medium opposite a picture recorded intermittently with a pull down mechanism as in standard motion picture practice The method of and the apparatus of this in- Vention for recording a film having no displacement between the picture and its concomitant sound will be more fully understood by referring to the following specification in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic drawing of the recording apparatus, and m Fig. 2 is a detailed view of the mechanical means for controlling the travel of the recording element.

Referring now to Fig. 1, a blank film 59 is unwound from a reel 60 and travels over a sprocket BI, past the recording apertures for the pictures and sound which are arranged opposite one another, over sprockets 62 and 63, to a take-up reel 64. This mechanism may be driven in any well known manner, the film being intermittently driven past shutters 65 and 66 by sprocket 62 and a driving mechanism 17. Objects are focused on the film through a lens 61. The addition which I have made to the usual photograph recording apparatus is the sound recording mechanism. Sound waves are picked up by a microphone l0 and after amplification by an amplifier H are impressed upon a recording cell 12 shown in its housing 13. The housing is oscillated as hereinafter described by a rod 14 sliding in a guide 15 so and actuated by the cam (6. Cam I6 is driven by the film driving and shutter mechanism 11 of the picture recording apparatus.

Referring to Fig. 2, the cam groove 18 is so cut and the cam so connected to the mechanism 11 that the oscillations of the recording cell will be timed in synchronism with the intermittent driving mechanism of the film. That is, the cell 12 will be lowered the width of a picture frame during the periods when the shutter 65 blocks out the images of the objects from the film and the shutter 66 blocks out any recording light from the cell 12. However, during the periods when the film is stationary for the exposure of a picture image, cell 12 is driven upwardly at a. constant speed and at a rate to completely cover the sound track portion of the film, corresponding with the picture being recorded. The sound track may be of any well known type such as variable density as shown. By this arrangement, 5 the sound corresponding to the picture will be recorded on that portion of the film directly opposite the picture and there will be no displacement between the related portions of the two recordings.

What is claimed isf I M A recording system comprising a film adapted to receive both picture and sound images, means for advancing said film intermittently mean s for pressin ,piciureima es n a d lm ai the stati nary period s oi said film only, meansjor gridiimages onsaidm o y during Mm periodsof said film, said sound images being impressed axially along said film and trans- 10 versely in the same portion of said film as said picture images, said sound images being concomitant with said picture images, means for shuttering both sides of said film during movement thereof, a modulated light source adapted to be moved with said film and contrary to the direction of movement of said film, and common drive means for moving said light source and for shuttering said film during movements thereof,

JOSEPH MUSUMECI. 

